Way to twighlight
by Chained Fighter
Summary: A girl mislead in her life finally gets a chance to know the truth in all worlds. But will her tainted heart enjoy the outcome? Join Yami in her quest to find her light! Please review!
1. Prologue

I don't remember much from my past. All I remember is my parents leaving me. So I had to fend for myself. It wasn't that hard. All I had to do was concentrate and they would run away screaming. I could get the food easily. All I needed was a blanket and I could stand sleeping in the snow. Not bad for an eight year old. But for some reason, the people wouldn't run away anymore. They would now fight back. I didn't know what to do anymore. I was cold & hungry, and it was already winter.

But then a man came to town while I was running from someone for stealing some food. I ran past the man and turned the corner. I started to cry.

"It is all right." A voice said. "You can come out now."

I cautiously peered from the corner. The shopkeeper was gone, and the man looked closely at me.

"You have something very special inside you." He said "And I will help it grow to its full potential." He held out his hand. I looked up at him. He was a bald old man with a beard and yellow eyes. He didn't look scary, so I went with him. He summoned a portal and we were off. When we got there, I saw green grass and a stone trail leading up to a black and white castle.

"Where are my manners?" The man said suddenly. "My name is Master Xehanort, and I will be training you. What is your name child?"

"I don't have a name." I replied. "I was never given one."

The man took out a weapon. "This is your Keyblade." The guard was a half black half white hexagon. The handle shot out horizontally and vertically, making it look easy to spin. It had a long blade and the teeth had a triangle shape at both ends. There was a keychain with a black jewel at the end.

"Its name is Darkness' Bond." The master said. "And you shall be called Yami from this point forward."

We started training at once. I had gotten better with the Keyblade over the years. At age ten, I learned magic. I had trouble using fire spells, but I excelled at blizzard. I learned the blizzaga and curaga in at an alarming rate, according to Master Xehanort. It turns out that my power was something called the darkness, which I controlled pretty quickly. I was age twelve to be exact.

I noticed that there was a room next to mine that wasn't the Master's. I stared at it for a while. _Was there going to be a new apprentice? _I thought. Maybe I was overreacting. The next day, I knew I wasn't.

When I was training, Master Xehanort walked down. He was with a boy wearing black and red. He had a mask on so I couldn't see his face.

"We have a new apprentice." The Master said. "His name is Vanitas and he will be training with you from now on."

I bowed in respect to the Master. If Mask Boy thought I was bowing to him, he's got another thing coming. "Yes Master Xehanort." As soon as he left I trained again. Yes, I trained by myself. I also did what I always do when I'm lonely; I made a copy of myself out of darkness. I hear a whistle. I turned to see the Vanitas nodding his head in approval. I raised an eyebrow. _What's with this guy?_ I thought. I continued to fight my other while Mr. 'I think I look cool just because my hands are folded and I'm leaning.' Just stood there and, well, leaned on a tree. Our moves were exactly the same until the other called a blizzard. _Wow, I sure do leave myself open. _I thought as I struck her in the stomach, causing her to disappear. I sat down; legs crossed, and I started to twirl my Keyblade, thinking of what to do next.

"Trying to impress me I see." I turned to see Mr. Mask walking over to me.

Standing up, I kept my rage in check. "Impress you? What a joke." I said bitterly. I sat back down and started thinking again. Something struck the ground beside me and made me jump. It was a Keyblade. I knew that under that mask the creep was smiling to himself.

"Well if you're done glaring," Creepo the Masked Clown said. "I would like to test your skills."

I twirled my Keyblade; I always do that when I think. "Fine, Mask Boy."

"Care to make a wager on that?"

"Wager?" I asked, honestly confused. I didn't know what some words meant because I was never taught them. I always picked them up from villagers and the books in the library.

"A bet." He said bluntly. "When I win, you have to answer all of my questions. Is it a deal?"

My eyebrow twitched._ When you win!? _"Fine, but when _I_ win, you have to take off your mask."

"It's a deal." He said simply. Then he double checked me. _The nerve! _I looked at what I was wearing. I had on a white shirt with a big red cross on it and red lines going down the shoulders. It kind of made my semi dark skin stand out. Maybe because of the tan I got here made me darker than I originally was. I had black capri pants with many pockets and a draw string at the cuffs with black flats. I wrapped my hair in a hair ponytail so it would reach my upper thigh and not slightly above my knees. Nothing wrong with what I was wearing.

It was a standoff for a moment. Both of us trying to see what the other would do. We both charged. He threw a fireball at me and I extinguished it with blizzard. Then he teleported.

"You can teleport!?" I yelped. I could just tell he sneered. Don't ask me how; I just know he did. I used a thundaga. Not my best move. He had teleported right under me and froze my feet so I couldn't dodge it.

"Damnit." I said simply as I was electrocuted. I fell to the ground. "30 lousy seconds…." I said, tears threatening to leave my eyes where they belonged.

"A minute and thirty." Vanitas said as he unfroze my feet.

"You dumb jerk. If this is how you cheer people up, you're failing miserably."

"Heh heh." He sniggered. I didn't need to take this. For the rest of the day I ignored Mask like there was no tomorrow. He must've been a smart boy because he didn't attempt to talk to me either. At night when everyone was asleep, my eyes shot open. Then they drooped. _Why does this thing have to be so early? _I thought. I sat up from my bed, stretched and looked at the clock. It was 4:30 A.M. Ah, the perfect time. I hopped from bed and brushed off my pajamas. I had on a plaid collared shirt and drawstring pants. My hair was in two pig-tail buns.

I tiptoed past Vanitas' room and out the door to my secret spot. I looked up to the sky; but there was nothing there. _5:00 A.M! It was at 5:00 A.M. _

"Crap." I groaned. What will I do with another 25 minutes? I started to twirl my Keyblade. _I could work on fire spells, _I thought._ I have been lacking on them. _I called a flicker of fire to my hands. So far so good. But then the light started to die. So not good. But then these words came to my head.

"Light." I murmured, and the fire was on full blast. It glowed in my hands, all brilliant and beautiful.

"Wow." I whispered, just now hearing the grassy footsteps toward me.

"What do you want?" I said bluntly as I reluctantly extinguished the fire. I stood up. No way was I going to let him ruin a tradition for me.

"Don't I still have questions to ask you?" He asked, obviously amused. I stopped cold. The bet we made. I sat back down.

"What's your name?"

"It's Yami." I said quietly.

"Ok then Yams."

"Yami you idiot!" I'm really getting tired of him and his jokes.

"Why don't you smile?"

"Smile? Well….uh…." Smile? Is this guy making up words now?

"You don't know what it means do you?" My silence was more than an answer. For the next five minutes he tried (and failed) to tell me what a smile was.

I was going to tell him that it was too dark to see anything, but a glimmer of light in the sky attracted my attention. I look up to see that it had started. My meteor shower watching tradition lives on. I looked at them with awe.

"They're so beautiful." I said.

"See? You're smiling." So that's smiling?

"I guess always smiled when I saw the meteors. I just didn't know what it was called." Maybe he wasn't a bad guy after all.

The meteor shower stopped. It must have been about six or something because the sun started to rise. I yawned and stood up.

"We'd better get going." I said and turned to Vanitas. I blinked twice.

"Y-your mask!" I managed to sputter. His mask was off. His mask was DETACHED FROM HIS FACE. He had black spiky hair and yellow eyes. He actually looked kind of….well….cute.

He stood and we walked back to the castle. I had gotten used to him for the most part. Every year we would watch the meteor shower. He didn't put his mask on anymore. We became really good friends. Some could say the best of friends. We both trained together, making me better. I have to admit, the dude was strong. But I could easily fend for myself now. Nothing could ruin this. Well, that was what I thought until Vanitas found me in the library.

"I'm going where!?" I yelled, shocked.

"Master Xehanort said you're going to train with Master Eraqus. I won't be there." Vanitas said.

"This is officially ruined._" _

"Listen." He said. "I'll be there from time to time. But you and the Master have to be there for the Mark of Mastery exam."

"Why not you?"

"I have…. a mission to take care of."

I banged my head on the book I was reading, and stayed like that for a few moments. I finally said, "How long do I have to be there?"

"One month." You have got to be kidding me.

"And you can't use your darkness or talk about it while you're there."

_It just gets better and better doesn't it? _ I thought. Then I registered what he had just said. "Why not!?"

"They're really big on using light so they think using darkness is evil." I looked at him like he was an idiot.

"Darkness is evil. Oh yea! They're totally not paranoid about this." I said. "How long do I have till I go there?"

"What day is today?"

"Thursd-."

"Now." Before I could object, he handed me a black and white robotic arm thing. He pointed to a button. "You press this to activate the armor that comes with this. Then throw your Keyblade into the air so it can carry you to new worlds. You can activate a portal using your Keyblade."

And before I knew it, I was on my way via portal to the Land of Departure.


	2. The Land of Departure

The place didn't look so bad for a prissy light-loving place. The only difference from my home that it had was that the castle was a kind of peach color, not black and white. The Master went to see Eraqus, leaving me to do whatever I pleased.

"Remember," He said. "No darkness; Not just yet." When I sighed he added, "A time will come when you will show them all your darkness to them all. You will show them how superior darkness is."

I smiled at this. _The darkness is the most superior that I have ever seen. _I thought. _We will all show them how superior darkness is to light. All shall crumble beneath the Masters feet. _Huh? Where did all that come from? I started to feel a bit woozy and the Master just smiled one of his 'Xehanort' smiles. I sat down near a tree and buried my face in my hands and knees. _I never say things like that. Why am I saying this stuff now? What the heck is light? _I couldn't think to myself for very long, because I heard footsteps. They stopped right in front of me. Without looking up, I summoned my Keyblade.

"Who are you and what do you want?" I said with no feeling. I heard one pair of footsteps back away. It was probably of shock.

"We're sorry," A girl's voice said. "We didn't know you were resting." I looked up to see a very pretty girl with blue hair and eyes, a young man with brown hair and blue eyes, and a blonde with blue eyes. All three of them had intersecting belts on their chests. We all just stared at each other for a while.

"You must be the new student that Master Eraqus mentioned." Blondie said, breaking the silence. "I'm Ventus-call me Ven. These are Terra and Aqua." He gestured to the two standing beside him. Aqua waved while Terra nodded a hello. I stood and said 'hi'. It turns out that they had lots of questions for me.

"How old are you?" Ventus asked.

"15." I replied.

"Do you have any friends there?" Aqua wondered.

"There's one." I told her.

"How does Master Xehanort teach?" Terra rather questioned.

"He teaches well; I've excelled with my Keyblade over the years." I claimed

"Well, let's see how much he taught you. Ven, Aqua, and I that is." He said as he and Ventus got up and summoned their Keyblades. I smirked, but then sighed. _Don't use any darkness, _I wined in my head.

Ventus charged at me first-well, he charged right into a fireball that got him thrown back a couple of feet and land on his face. Terra, on the other hand, was more cautious. He attacked and jumped back a couple of feet before attacking again. _He's trying to make me impatient, _I figured out. I smiled. The next time that he ran up to attack me, I put my Keyblade in the air and called forth a blizzard. It surrounded me and froze Terra's lower body so I used another fire spell to send him flying. I sighed, but then put my guard up again. I realized it was too late as Aqua struck my side. I fell to the ground and dropped my Keyblade. As I quickly turned on my back to get up, Aqua already had her Keyblade to my face and my Keyblade in her hand. I was speechless.

When the match was over, Ventus and Terra walked over to me.

"I guess the Master taught you well." Terra said. Ventus was moping a little bit. I turned to Aqua.

"You guys truly deserve to be in the Mark of Mastery exam." I bowed to them.

We were like this for three weeks and six days. Ventus had taught me to move faster and not to stay in one place all of the time. Terra taught me how to add more power to my strikes and to shift my weight to overpower my opponents. Aqua taught me more advanced fire, gravity, and wind spells. I can now control the wind to double jump or even to glide from place to place. She also taught me about light. Light didn't seem so bad after all.

My eyes shot up that night. Then they drooped. I sighed._ I wish Van were here, _I thought. I sat up from my bed, stretched and looked at the clock. It was 4:45 A.M. Ah, nostalgia. I hopped from bed and brushed off my pajamas. I went outside. Now I had to find a good spot to see them. Then I saw Ventus.

"What are you doing out here?" I called. As he turned around, he smiled.

"I'm gonna watch the meteor shower."

"You too?" I asked, amazed. What a coincidence.

"C'mon," He said. "You don't know any of the good places to watch them. I'll take you there."

We went off the castle grounds to the training facility. He looked my way.

"We've got time to spare." He said with a smile. He then went ahead to attacking the training ring. _Ah, what the heck. _I started attacking too. We came across a four ring spinner.

"What?! You want a piece of me too?" He yelled. I snickered to myself. Kid's got quite an imagination. We continued to attack it until we both did our finishers.

"Wait, what are we messing around here for? We're gonna miss the meteor shower." The meteor shower! We raced to a cliff top in time to see the first meteor drop.

"Wow!" We both said at the same time. My tradition lives on. Ventus fell asleep while I watched the rest of the meteor shower. I heard grassy footsteps. I turned to see Aqua sneaking over. I opened my mouth to say something but she smiled and quietly shushed me. Ventus woke up, yawned and lay back down to see Aqua.

"Whoa!" He got up as Aqua giggled. "Gimme a break Aqua."

Ok, I have to admit, that was kind of funny.

"Ven, you hopeless sleepyhead." She said. "You know you two should have at least brought blankets."

"But-Did I dream that place up?" He wondered, not really paying attention. "It felt like I'd been there before…looking up at the stars…" What is he talking about?

Aqua then ruffled his head. "C'ept you've always lived here with us." This was getting even stranger. Ventus still looked uncertain, but uttered a, "Yeah…" He smiled and looked up. "I know."

We all went to the edge of the cliff and sat there for a while.

"Hey Aqua, Yami." Ventus said

"Hm?" She replied. I looked to him as my reply.

"Y'ever wonder what stars are? Where light comes from?" Hm, where _does _light come from? And what about darkness for that matter? I thought about this for a while until Aqua spoke.

"Hmm, well they say-" Aqua started.

"That every star up there is another world." We all turned to see Terra.

"Terra." Aqua said.

"Yep, hard to believe there are so many worlds out there besides our own." He continued.

"What about my world?" I asked.

"Every world." Terra replied. "The light is their hearts, and it's shining down on us light a million lanterns."

"Is it just the light?" I whispered to myself.

"What?" Ventus said. "I don't get it."

"Shows how naïve you are…" I mumbled to myself but loud enough for them to hear me.

"Hey! I'm not naïve; I'm just…." He struggled to find the right word.

"Naïve?" I offered. Aqua and Terra laughed.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"You two would make the weirdest siblings." Aqua said as we all laughed.

So this is the Land of Departure.

The meteor shower ended so the four of us looked up at the stars until Aqua stood up.

"Oh yeah. Terra, you and I have our Mark of Mastery exams tomorrow." She said.

"The exam that brought me here." I mumbled. "After this, I'll be sent home…" They all felt silent.

Aqua broke the silence. "Hey, our hearts are connected. And we'll meet again."

"How do you know?"

"It's just a feeling you get, y'know?" Terra said. I pondered on this for a moment before I nodded.

"Besides," Ventus added. "You'll get to see Van again."

I smiled. "I know." I can't wait to tell him everything I learned.

"Oh." Aqua said as she took something out of her pocket. "I made us good luck charms." She had four star shaped charms. They were Wayfinders; I read about them before. Each one was a different color. She handed Terra an orange one, Ventus a green one, and kept the blue one. I got the purple one.

"I get one too?" Ventus asked excitedly.

"Of course, one for each of us." Aqua said. "Somewhere, out there, there's this tree with star-shaped fruit…..and the fruit represents an unbreakable connection. So as long as you and your friends carry good luck charms shaped like it, nothing could ever drive you apart. You'll always find your way back to each other."

I had read something about that. "Aren't you supposed to make them with seashells?" I asked.

Aqua nodded. "Yea, but I did the best with what I had." I smiled.

"Thank you Aqua. This is better than any seashell." I said.

"Oy, sometimes you two are such girls." Terra teased.

"Hey, what do you mean sometimes?" Aqua threatened.

"Weren't we always?" I smirked.

"So this isn't a real good luck charm?" Ven asked.

"Well that's yet to be seen. But I did work a little magic on them."

"Besides, if you believe they work, then they will." I said. They all smiled at me.

"The exam's tomorrow. Anyone wanna spar?"

"I would, if I were fully conscious." I said, yawning. I don't know what happened next because I fell asleep.

The next morning, my eyes shot up. And they didn't even droop this time! Today's the big day; the day to see who will pass the Mark of Mastery began.

I didn't listen to Master Eraqus' speech. I don't think Ventus did either. I only paid attention to the balls of light that appeared on the battle ground. They became tinted with darkness. _Now that's what I'm talking about,_ as they came straight for Ventus and me.

"Ven! Yami!" They both yelled as we defeated the two that came our way.

"Don't worry about us!" Ventus yelled.

"You two just focus on the exam!" I called.

"But you two are in danger here! Go wait in your rooms!" Aqua said.

"If you think I'd come all this way just to be in my room, then you've got another thing coming!" I called back.

"Yea!" Ventus agreed.

"They can take care of themselves." Said Terra. "They've been training just as hard out there as us."

"Stay sharp you two!" She finally said. They weren't hard to beat. We finished them all in record time. Now the real test; the final faceoff between Terra and Aqua. It was a good match- until Terra started losing. But then something caught my attention, was that Terra about to use darkness? No, it must have been the trick of the light. Oh, the irony.

"Terra, Aqua, you both preformed commendably." Master Eraqus said after the match. "However, only Aqua has shown the Mark of Mastery." I blinked twice. _Are you kidding me!? Not that I don't like Aqua and everything, but why just her!? _I saw the look on Terra's face; pure disbelief.

"Terra, you failed to keep your darkness within you sufficiently in check." I stormed off before I could hear anymore.

"Terra, you failed to keep your darkness within you sufficiently in check. What a light-loving goody goody!" I ranted as I turned the corner and bumped into Vanitas.

"Wait….Van!" I yelled.

"It's been a while huh Yams?" He said. I rolled my eyes and laughed.

"Yep! It's real great to see you again." Before I could say more, Master Xehanort interrupted.

"What did you think of the outcome for the exam?" He asked. All my hate resurfaced.

"I hate the way they shun darkness!" I yelled. "I guarantee that if Terra used light, that both of them would've passed!" I just realized that I had yelled at my Master. I bowed in respect. "I apologize for yelling." I said lamely. Master Xehanort just smiled one of his smiles.

"I too feel the same way." He said. "But forget that now. I have a mission for you."

"A mission?"

"Yes child. There is no more that I can teach you. You must find other worlds to teach you what I cannot. You need to become stronger so that they can see how darkness should not be ignored." A real mission? To see other worlds? This is a dream come true!

"But beware child." He said. "There are many obstacles that stand in your way." I raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Eraqus' apprentices' might wanna stop you." Van explained. "You know, because they think you'll be spreading evil. And these things called unversed showed up out of nowhere."

"I see…Ventus….Aqua….Terra…." I looked up at them. "Thank you Master. Van…." I smiled and flashed a peace sign before I walked outside. "You better not forget me or you pay the price." I giggled. He saluted me with two fingers and smiled.

I pressed the button on my shoulder armor. A light glowed and I was suddenly wearing black and white full body armor. I threw my Keyblade into the air and it turned in to a metallic board.

"Fantastic." I said sarcastically as I sat on it. Suddenly, I was locked on to it. _No falling off here, _I thought as I flew up into the portal that the Master made for me. _Here I go, _I thought as I went to my destiny, not knowing that after this, I would never see any of them again. Will I?


	3. Dwarf Woodlands

Hi there! Chained Fighter here! Sorry, I know this is short but I promise that the next one will be longer! This was just a very short world to me. Well, I hope you can still enjoy!

Space was really different from anything that I had ever seen. So many distant stars and new worlds came into view. Wait…..new worlds! I landed in the first one I came across. Not really a high-tech place, but it was a quaint little world. But something caught my eye. I quickly hid behind a rock as he passed me. He was following a bunch of short people, each with a pickaxe.

"Wow, Ventus sure is fast." I murmured to myself as I went in the opposite direction. I found some dark woods.  
"Well, if I'm ever spotted, they can never tell that it was me." I said as I entered. _Strange, _I thought_. It feels like this place is calling me for some reason. _I heard bushes rustle and saw something moving. Well, whatever it was had no luck in trying to attack me as it ran right into a blizzard spell. I examined it closely.

"What is that thing?" I whispered as I stared at it some more. It was black, had red eyes and looked kind of like a bunny with purple ears. I blushed. It looked kind of cute actually.

"You must be the Unversed." I said as it freed its head and body. It turned its head and smacked me across the face with one of its ears, making me fly into a nearby bush. I held my throbbing cheek in pain and glared at the Unversed while summoning my Keyblade.

"That was a bad move Bunny." I said as I destroyed it with my Keyblade. The only problem was that more appeared after that. They were all different shapes and sizes with different types of abilities. Heck, one even looked like a shoe for crying out loud!

When the monsters were all cleared, I exited the forest to see a girl white snowy skin. She was picking flowers while humming a tune. But there was something inside her; something that made me feel warm and fuzzy. This feeling made the girl look like she was made of pure light.

"So that's what that feeling is." I said to myself. _Why doesn't darkness ever feel like that? _I wondered as I walked up to her.

"Why hello." She said in a voice that would melt dry ice.

"Uh…. Hi there." I said as I smiled. I realized that I had never talked to anyone other than those of my training world and the Land of Departure.

"You don't look like you're from around here dear." She said.

"Uh… no…. I'm not." I said timidly. This whole broadening your horizon stuff is harder than I thought.

"No need to be shy." She said happily. "I'm Snow White." She smiled- if possible- even brighter than before. _She's so care-free, _I thought.

I smiled at her. "I'm Yami." I said. I was going to say more but I noticed someone from the distance.

"I'm so sorry Snow White, but I have to go now." I didn't let her answer as I ran away and hid near a tree. I peeked from behind it to see Terra walking over to Snow White.

"Oh hello. Who are you?" She turned to say to him.

"Aren't you startled?" He asked. What was he even doing here? _Please tell me that he's not tracking me down too? Aqua and Ventus, I can see, but not you too Terra! _I hardly listened to them until the monsters that had attacked me in the forest had come back.

"Unversed!" Terra hissed as Snow White ran away in fright. So it is the unversed. I followed Snow into the forest to make sure she was safe. When I caught up to her, a tree unversed that looked like it was made of pure darkness tried to grab her.

"Help me!" She yelled. I don't know if it's that she was just nice to me or her light, but I jumped in front of her when the tree took a swing. For the second time today, I was airborne. But this time, I hit my head on a normal tree. The pain threatened to take my consciousness, but I had to protect her innocent heart. I got up determined to teach that over grown oak to leave my friends alone.

"Hey! That's not how you use darkness!" I yelled as I pointed my Keyblade at it. "Darkness!" Immediately, strips and black and purple shot toward the beast; but making it stronger. It grew bigger in size. And probably in strength.

"Wha-?" It took a swing. I jumped in front of Snow and took aim. _Man I'm so complaining about this later. _

"Light!" I roared and a white orb was shot out at the unversed. It glowed a little then turned back into a normal tree. Snow must have run away, because she was nowhere in sight. I was going to start looking for her again until I heard her voice in the distance.

"Those horrible trees." She sobbed. "They tried to grab me." _Was that Ventus she was talking to? _

"Ah, it's ok." Yep, that was surely Ventus with her. "You were probably just seeing things." Does she make friends with everyone she meets? Since she was in Ventus' care now, I went back (I kinda got lost on the way) to the place I met her to see an old lady with a basket of apples. But an apple dropped when she didn't notice. I was going to pick it up, but another hand beat me to it.

"Ventus?!" I yelped. He looked just as shocked to see me too.

"What are you doing here?" He asked. I raised an eyebrow. He should know what I'm doing here. Or maybe nobody told him….he was the smallest of their group. I thought up a quick lie.

"Oh, The Master-" I didn't even get to say it, for he wasn't even paying attention to me! He was giving the apple back to the lady. I didn't know if I should've been relieved or angry. Either way I let it go. Well, at least I know that I don't have to steer clear of him anymore.

"Excuse me ma'am." He said politely. "You dropped this." She turned around to see the apple in his hand.

"Oh, why thank you my pet." She said…..sort of creepily. And I'm we're anyone's pet! "To tell the truth, I really don't know what I would have done without that." She started to cackle quietly. I raised an eyebrow.

"What's wrong Yami?" Ventus asked me.

"I-I don't know…" I said honestly. "There's just something….not right…"

"Haven't I seen that sword before?" She asked, cutting directly into the conversation. How rude! Apparently Ventus didn't think very much of it.

"Terra has one." He said. "You know Terra?"

"Oh yes, yes." She said. "That ruffian pointed one of those at me, asking about some 'Xehanort.' My poor heart nearly stopped." Xehanort? What does Terra want with the master? Probably to ask to train back at my world. I would too. I would never want someone like Eraqus teaching me a thing, or rather brainwashing me.

"That doesn't sound like him at all…." Ventus said sadly. But he was right. Terra was never the one to pick fights with defenseless people. Especially not old ladies. "Ma'am, where did Terra go?"

"I'm sure I have no idea." What a load of crap. She obviously knows something. She's probably just hiding it. "Must you all menace a poor granny so?"

"What? No I was just…" Now she's making even Ventus sad! I started to glare at her.

"Is there something wrong deary?" She asked me.

"Nope, nothing at all….Miss." I said bluntly. She turned and left. Something was going on, and I don't think it would turn out very well. I left Ventus and started to follow her through the woods again, being extra careful so that she wouldn't know she was there. But I her for a while until I saw a small cottage. I decided to take a peek through the window just to see Snow White collapse, dropping an apple. An apple oozing with darkness. A slammed through the door and yelled, "That's NOT how you're supposed to use darkness!"

She registered surprise, but then laughed. She killed her. She was just so innocent…what did she ever do!?

"Good riddance to the fairest of them all!" She cackled and disappeared into a puff of smoke before I could make her pay. I immediately checked on Snow. She was still breathing. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Just sleeping." I breathed. I shook her a little. "Wake up Snow." Nothing. I tried shaking her a bit more. "Now's not the time for sleeping Snow." She just kept sleeping.

"What's going on?" I mumbled to myself. "This isn't a natural sleep." I looked over to the apple and back to her.

"Did that old lady….put her to sleep with that apple?" That was the only explanation. I put her on one of the beds in the cottage and went back to the place where we met, finally noticing the huge castle behind it.

"Prepare to pay you witch." I snarled. "Maybe if I defeat her, Snow will wake up." I looked everywhere in the castle to find nothing but unversed, which I quickly destroyed. I finally found her, outside at a cliff, laughing at what she had done.

"You used darkness to try to hurt people!" I roared. "You'll pay!" I noticed some vultures. It was like they were snickering; knowing what would happen next.

She smirked and I summoned my Keyblade. She didn't even get a chance to attack before I yelled, "Light!"

I figured that if she used that much darkness, she would be vulnerable to the light. Her laughter became shrieks of pain as I shot her in the stomach. She lost her footing as she fell off the cliff; the buzzards following her down. So that's why they were there; they must have known what was coming to her. I sighed.

"Well, that's the end of that." I said to myself. "There was so much impure darkness inside of her, that she became extremely vulnerable to the light. A sad end." I turned and looked up to the sky. I blinked twice as I saw Vanitas walking into a portal. I quickly put on my armor, used my metal board, and made another portal to catch up to him.

"What exactly is your mission Van?" I giggled. "This'll be fun." Before I went into my portal, I noticed Snow and a man walking together. I did it! Snow White's okay now. That means that I'm free to travel. Off to Vanitas!


	4. Castle of Dreams

It seems that I was a second too late as I saw Van shoot into another portal. I groaned. Maybe next time. Or maybe I'll find him in another world? I saw a castle type world and landed there. It was morning. I shaded my eyes with my hand.

"Man!" I exclaimed. "Is it bright out here or what?" I could barely see where I was going before I crashed into someone.

"Oh!" The voice said. "I'm so sorry! Are you alright young lady?" I looked up to see a blonde girl with a dark brown shirt with blue sleeves, tan skirt, ballet shoes, and a white apron.

"I'm fine." I said. "Are you alright?" She smiled and nodded. I noticed some clothes on the ground.

"I'm sorry…." I said, picking up the clothes. "The sun was a bit bright for me, and I didn't look where I was going." She knelt beside me and we continued to pick up the clothes.

"It's quite alright." She said. When we finished gathering the clothes, she thanked me and walked away.

"Wait!" I pleaded. I took some clothes from her to carry. "I'll help you with that. It's the least I can do."

"Why thank you….um"

"It's Yami."

"Thank you Yami. My name is Cinderella."

"It's nice to meet you."

"Very likewise." When she smiled, I felt that same fuzzy feeling I had when I met Snow White. She was practically made of light too. Maybe it isn't all that bad. Or maybe that's how they drag you in like the others. We took the clothes to her house just to see three people at the door.

"Who're they?" I whispered to Cinderella.

"That's my stepsisters and stepmother. The black haired one is Drizella and the red haired one is Anastasia." She whispered back.

"Cinderella!" The stepmother called out to her as we stopped at the house. "Why in the world are you so late with our clothes?"

"I'm sorry stepmother." She said softly. "But I ran into-"

"Ugh!" Anastasia snobbishly held her nose up. "Did you even wash these clothes? They reek and they're still dirty!"

"Oh, I'm sorry." I piped up. They looked like they had just noticed me. "I ran into her and accidentally-"

"And who must you be?" The stepmother asked me rather rudely. "I have never seen you around here before." Uh-oh…

"Oh…" I stammered. "I'm from, well, out of town here…."

"Do you mean royalty?" Drizella asked me; face lighting up. This smile didn't give me a warm feeling at all. It felt like it was tainted. Is this what darkness feels like? I snapped to attention.

"No, I'm not royalty-"

"So then you're just another scullery maid?" She snickered. What is with these people?

"Not a scullery maid-"

"Then just what are you?"

"If you could let me finish I would be happy to tell you."I said through gritted teeth. I wouldn't allow them to make me angry. I took a deep breath. "I'm just someone helping, that's all."

"Ha! She'll need all the help she can get!" The two stepsisters laughed.

"I'm sorry," Cinderella apologized. "I'll wash them again."

"I'll help you." I told her."It was my fault anyway."

"Remember Cinderella." The stepmother said. "Our promise." Cinderella nodded. "Then you'd better hurry."

We quickly ran to a nearby well to wash the clothes all over again. I started up a conversation.

"What was the promise you made to your stepmother?" I asked.

"Well," She started. "There is going to be a ball tonight and I really want to go more than anything. But I have to finish all o my chores in order to do it."

"Oh no!" I yelped. "This is one of your chores, wasn't it?" She nodded. "Then I prolonged you…."

"No, no, it's quite alright." She assured me. "As long as I work hard, I'm sure I'll make it time with my mice friends helping me."

I sighed. That was a relief. But I still felt extremely guilty. "I'll help you with all of your chores!"

She looked surprised at my sudden outburst. She smiled.

"You don't have to do that-"

"I want to."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Well, first things first." She started. "We have to finish this, clean the dishes, dust the house, mop & polish the floors…" The list went on and on. I blinked twice. And she does this every day?!

"You don't have to you know." She said, smiling and noticing my facial expression.

"No, no, I want to." We got to work. Turns out that this wasn't even all that hard. We were halfway through everything when we heard a series of crashes from one of the stepsister's room. I raced there while Cinderella…ran, to find a cat licking its paw and sitting in a huge mess of dirt and broken glass.

"Oh, Lucifer…" Cinderella said softly.

"Its name is Lucifer?" I asked. She nodded and turned back to the cat. "How fitting…"

"What am I going to do with you?" She asked no one in particular. The cat- if possible- sneered at the mess he made. I raised an eyebrow and looked at one of his paws.

"He's got something under his paw." I told her. She made him lift them all to see a mouse….

"Ventus!" I yelped. Cinderella picked Lucifer up.

"Oh, now look at what you've done Lucifer," She said. "You've scared him to half death." She took him to the other room.

Ventus did look a little pale, but I wouldn't say scared to death. He jumped up on a dresser and took a white button.

"Why do you need a button?" I asked him as I picked him up. "And why the heck are you so tiny?"

"Jaq and I are trying to help make Cinderella's dress." He said. "And I have no idea why I'm small. Why are you here?"

"Helping her with chores." I picked him up and put him on the floor. "Listen, that cat is bad news. He's probably just like his owner, so steer clear of him. Got it?"

He nodded and went into a mouse hole as soon as Drizella came in.

"My room!" She shrieked. "What did you do to it!?" She didn't even know the whole story and she was already blaming me?

"It was your cat that did this." I told her. "Anyway, I'll clean it up-"

"You'd better, you stupid scullery maid!" She yelled at me. "I can't believe you would blame this on poor Lucifer…"

I raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't blaming anyone." I stated. "I was just-" There was a blur; like the air was being shifted and I found myself in Cinderella's room.

"Stating facts." I completed my sentence before I realized what had happened.

"What was that Yami?" Cinderella asked. I blinked twice.

"Weren't you in the other room?" I asked. What the heck was going on here!?

"You mean this morning?" She asked. This is so weird. Plus, I always looked up to her, not down to her.

"You look a bit different Yami." She told me. "I just can't put my finger around it." I looked into a mirror. I was wearing I more mature version of what I usually wore. I had a white shirt with a blue cross on the chest that showed some of my stomach & a blue stripe going down the short sleeves, snug fitting pants that came down to my ankles, and black flats. My hair was using itself as a rubber band to be put in a ponytail. It was longer than ever, reaching to my calves.

"I have the body of Aqua!" I yelled touching my face. It was true. I looked as grown up as Aqua; probably her age. But the question was how? Someone burst in the room. Those stupid sisters.

"What are you wearing!?" Drizella asked. I just noticed that Cinderella was in a beautiful pink dress. The sisters were wearing hideous red and green dresses with a large feather on both of their heads.

"Where do you think you're going?" Anastasia sneered.

"Well," She said. "To the ball." I knew exactly what they were going to do. I inched toward Cinderella for what was about to happen. Funny, I felt smarter in this older form….

"Well, you can't go with a ruined dress." They both said.

"What do you-?" Cinderella didn't even have enough time to finish her sentence as they lunged for her; or rather into my hands.

"You're not ruining her dress." I said simply. But the air shifted again and I found myself outside with a crying Cinderella. I noticed him and ran behind a tree to hide.

"Is something wrong?" Terra asked as he walked up to her.

"It's just that my friends made me the most beautiful dress-" She wept. "But my stepmother and step sisters ruined it. And I was so looking forward to the ball." She cried some more.

"Darkness always finds a way into a wounded heart." He said. "You have to be strong. Strength of heart will carry you through even the toughest of trials." From behind the tree, I was fuming. Darkness does what!? You have got to be kidding me; so Eraqus has gotten to Terra? Well too bad, he's not getting to me. Stupid light lovers. Talking about darkness like that.

"But I…" She said. Just then, the Unversed materialized. He protected Cinderella, who didn't even notice. She continued sobbing.

"I can't believe…" She uttered. "…not anymore…"

"Strength of heart is important, but that's not all you need." I looked around to try to find the voice who said that.

"There's nothing left to believe in…" Cinderella cried. "Nothing…"

"Nothing my dear?" The unknown voice asked. "Oh, now, you don't really mean that." Someone materialized in front of Cinderella. She was now crying on the mysterious person's lap.

"Oh… but I do. It's just no use."

"Nonsense!" She said softly. "If you'd lost your faith, I couldn't be here, and here I am. Oh, come now, dry those tears. You can't go to the ball looking like that." The ball? How does she expect someone to go like that?

"The ball?" Cinderella looked confused. "Oh, I'm not-"

"Of course you are." She said sweetly. "But we'll have to hurry. Now what were those magic words?" She pondered on this for a second. "Oh yes… bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!" Light surrounded a nearby pumpkin. At once, it started to move towards them. I almost tripped over myself trying to get a closer look. _Is that possible!? _I thought.

She made it grow one, no two, no three times bigger! It then turned white with wheels and a horse & coach. She turned Cinderella's ruined dress into a beautiful white one. All of the sadness on her face disappeared immediately.

"Oh… it's a beautiful dress." She ran up to the fountain to look at her dress. "Why…it's a dream come true!"

"Yes," The woman said. "But like all dreams… I'm afraid this can't last forever." Cinderella looked at her.

"You'll have only till midnight," She continued. "And then, on the stroke of twelve, the spell will be broken, and everything will be as it was before."

Cinderella walked up to her. "Yes, I understand." They hugged and off Cinderella went to the ball. Terra and the woman talked to each other.

"Her heart was full of light." He said. "Why didn't I see it?" Because you're too focused on bad mouthing the darkness, you fool.

"What did you do?" He asked. "I can hardly tell she's the same person."

The woman turned to him. "Who are you?"

"Terra."

"Terra, in your heart, do you believe that dreams can come true?"

"I do." He said. "But I also believe you have to make an effort to make them come true." Huh, I guess he knows something after all.

"Yes, of course. But sometimes believing in dreams is easier said than done. Cinderella believes her dreams can come true. I wanted her to see that she is right."

"So that's what made her shine- faith in her heart that anything is possible. Where did she go?"

"To the royal ball at the palace. Go and when you see her dancing… you'll know that she believes, and that will help you believe too."

Terra was long gone when I heard her say, "You can come out now."

I had no idea that she was talking to me, so it was a surprise when the tree that was hiding me had disappeared.

"Oh, aren't you the cutest thing!" She cooed as I walked over to her. She was taller than I'd expected. "But your heart has been tainted hasn't it? You cannot see the truth; for it has been shielded from you."

"Nothing has been 'shielded' from anyone." I was threatened to yell, but I noticed the change in my voice. It was a lot higher pitched than my other form or normal form. I raced to the fountain to see my reflection. I now wore a kind of baggy white shirt with a yellow cross on the chest, yellow stripes going down the sleeves, loose shorts, and black tennis shoes. My hair was out and stopped at the center of my back. I had the body of when Master Xehanort found me.

"I look seven." I whispered.

"It seems that you have some time troubles." She said to me. "You need to find the trouble maker behind all of this."

"Do you know where that person is?" I asked.

"I most certainly do, child."

"Please," I pleaded. "Tell me so I can put a stop to this."

She laughed softly. "Oh, child, I would help you either way." She waved her wand. "Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!" A light surrounded me. When the light faded, I now wore a black, strapless ball gown, with a black bow tied in the back and a yellow trim on the top of the chest. I had my black flats back.

"Wow!" I admired the dress.

"Now," She began. "This will keep you from shifting through time. But I'm afraid that it won't keep your age problem in check."

"It's alright." I told her. "Why a dress though?"

"Oh, it's just something pretty to see you in before you're on your journey again." She smiled. There was a glimmer of sadness in her eye. I hugged her.

"Thank you." I have to admit, it sounded pretty cute at my age right now. She squeezed me tightly. The air shifted one more time but the trim of my dress glowed, stopping the shift before it could go into full blast.

"The last hour has passed." She told me. "Good luck child. You will find your culprit at the ball." And I was off. The music was still playing, but I immediately noticed something wrong in the ball.

"No one's moving!" It was true. Even Terra, getting ready to leave, was frozen in place. Or maybe frozen in time. I heard ticking and looked up to see a clock Unversed, twisting and turning its hands. Without thinking, I jumped to an extremely high ledge to fight it. Funny, I could never do that before. Its hands stopped at a one and an eight. I immediately morphed into my grown up form. Thankfully, the dress had morphed to just my size and the trim of it turned blue. My brain involuntarily but very helpfully analyzed every scenario that could take place while fighting this thing. I summoned my Keyblade and jumped to its height.

"Freeze!" I called as I froze one of its hands. The unversed tried to move the frozen hand, but it snapped off. It was weird; I felt a whole lot smarter in this form. It sped away and turned its remaining hand to a seven.

"Fine then." I said as I morphed into my child form. I used the wind power than Aqua taught to good use and double jumped higher than I'd ever have before. I then slashed the side of it and slammed it into the ground. This form was weird too. I felt faster…..stronger…. more like a Keyblade Master, even if I was in a smaller form. It quickly got up and turned to the twelve. The one on the clock glowed and the hand turned to the five. The trim of my dress turned red and I was in my original form. Its hand was spinning like crazy. It was actually kind of scary seeing it freak out like this. But I was brave in this form. Always have, always will be.

"It's over!" I yelled, and swiftly sliced it in half. It started to disintegrate as it stuck midnight, and then disappeared. Everyone started to move again while the clock still chimed into the air. I had done it. But it looked like the Unversed controlled the spells time also. Cinderella noticed the clock and had to run away. They ran after her while the stepmother and sisters watched her go. My clothes had fizzled back to normal. And it looks like my real age is here to stay.

The stepmother looked at me. I smiled and waved. You should always be nice to your enemies. She turned up her nose and walked out of the ballroom with her daughters.

"A word of advice!" I called out to them. They all stopped to hear me out.

"You shouldn't use impure darkness." I told them. "It'll certainly come back to destroy you."

"Oh, really?" The wicked stepmother snapped. "What is this, 'impure darkness' that you ramble on about?"

"Darkness that hurts others." I said simply. I didn't think she even took consideration of this as she continued to leave. I stayed a bit longer, but then came Aqua, coming in the direction that they left. I sprinted out of sight and found my way outside.

"Good luck on your dream Cinderella." I smiled as I summoned a portal and continued my journey.


	5. The Bad Dominions

I made it to a world where the grass was green and everything on the ground was lush and beautiful. I couldn't say too much about the sky though. It was very dark and gloomy. I looked around to see four figures in the distance.

"Ventus?" I asked myself. "Again?" I noticed the other three as three women with wings. There was one dressed in green, one in blue, and one I red. They all came up to a dark wall, brimming with green flames and black smoke.

"I take it someone's not using darkness right again." I mumbled. I think I know why they shun the darkness now. But they're still one sided! They don't know the good that darkness can offer.

"Looks like we're stuck." Ventus said to them. Was he trying to go somewhere important?

"This must be Maleficent's doing." Red had concluded. Green suddenly looked like she had an idea.

"I know." She said and flew up to the wall. She took out a wand and a green light flashed from it. Suddenly, the smoke and fire began to fade, allowing them to pass. They must have been fairies; they could do all that and much more in the books I've read back home.

"Shall we?" Green asked sweetly.

"Yep." Ventus said and they all continued. I waited about a minute and followed them.

"I better find out what's going on." I told myself. "Ventus looked pretty determined." I ran only to get blocked by an abundance of Unversed. There were mostly just large bodied ones with plant types and vulture types accompanying it.

"I don't have time for this!" I said, fighting them all. There were just too many of them. I noticed something; they're movements were extremely familiar, like I had seen and fought them before. They were….like Van's movements. Only in a creepier, stalking way. Ventus was out of sight when I defeated the last Unversed.

"Now where is he!?" I yelled, obviously frustrated. I saw an ominous castle over head. If Ventus didn't go there, then I would turn to the light. I hopefully sprinted into the castle, hoping that I wouldn't really have to turn to light. There, I happily saw the blue fairy turn the corner. He must have been stopped by Unversed, or he would've been out of my sight completely. I ran to the corner they went to and quickly ran back and hid. They stopped right in front of a huge room with two alert guards. One looked like a human bird while the other looked like a human pig.

"Careful," Red warned. "Their Maleficent's." I raised an eyebrow.

"Well," Ventus said. "They ain't guardin' nothing." Even though his grammar was way off, he was right. They didn't look like they were guarding anything. The bird guard started to yawn as Ventus walked over to them. My eyes widened at what he what he did next.

"Ten-shun!" He blared. They both turned their attention to him; surprised. "No sleeping on the job!" He got into his fighting stance, using his Keyblade as a gladius.

I just couldn't help it. That sheer act of stupidity made me jump out of my hiding place and yell at the top of my lungs: "Ventus, you idiot!"

He jumped, and turned around as I ran up to him and got into my battle stance beside him.

"Where did you come from!?" He asked as we fought, clearly flustered. I faltered. I never thought this far ahead.

"I was about to ask you the same thing!" I stalled for time. "What are you doing here anyway?" If he as narrow-minded as I'd hoped, then he would completely and utterly drop his question to answer mine.

Thankfully, he was. "I want to help these fairies get their princesses heart back." He answered as he destroyed some pig guards.

"Who the heck stole it?"

"This witch named Maleficent." So she's the one I'm looking for. Why does she want a princess's heart? Aw well, guess I'll find out soon.

When we finished up with the guards, we hightailed it to the door that they were guarding to see many different colored portals.

"It looks like all we have to do is to find our way through these to get the heart you're looking for." I looked to the fairies. They all nodded. I ran for the portal. If I had felt the slight rumbling of the ground and saw a narrow part of it shoot out from under my feet, I wouldn't have needed Ventus to tackle me out of there before I got hurt. We rolled a bit before stopping and my vision was clear again. I immediately wished that I couldn't see anymore. My face rivaled a tomato's as I discovered that I was on the ground while Ventus was hovering over me.

"Are you ok?" He asked as he moved his face a bit closer to mine in concern; I don't even think he noticed the situation. He got off of me and helped me up. I nervously cleared my throat.

"I-I'm fine…." I stammered, face finally returning to its original shade. With the help of the fairies, we found our way to the lair where the heart was. It was surrounded by that same green fire as before. _Someone really doesn't want that heart to escape_, I thought. I looked to Ventus and he nodded. We both took out our Keyblades' and pointed them towards the heart. They glowed and shot a beam of light into the fire. The flames extinguished and the heart broke free, out of the castle. We high-fived each other.

"That should do it." Ventus said. We started to walk away, but I felt a strange presence come over me. The next thing I knew, I was staring at a man wearing black and gray in a meadow.

"Don't you remember?" He asked. "We've met before." He was speaking to a beautiful girl with blonde hair. She looked kind of scared.

"We…we have?" She asked.

"Why of course." He replied. "You said so yourself-once upon a dream." You have got to be kidding me. I guess not, because the girl looked shocked, then smiled. The headed to a hill.

"I never thought I would meet you-outside of my dreams, that is." She told him.

"Who are you?" He asked. "What's your name?" They really didn't know each other?

"Hmm?" She had finally registered what he had said. "Oh, my name… Why it's… Oh, oh no, I can't… good-bye!" She started to run away.

"I must see you!" He called. She paused for a moment.

"I don't know," She said. "Maybe someday." She then ran away frantically.

"When? Tomorrow?"

"Oh, no. This evening! At the cottage, in the glen." In a flash of light, I was back in the castle. I blinked twice.

"What was that?" I asked Ventus.

"You saw that too?" I nodded. This is getting stranger and stranger. Luckily, the fairies knew what was going on.

"Aurora's memory." Red told us. "She must have gotten her heart back."

"So her dream came true!" Ventus cheered.

"Yes, not long ago. Dreams are very strong beliefs. Aurora's led her to true love."

"I see you two hold strong beliefs too." Green said to us. "Don't you dears'."

I didn't have to think too hard about my strong beliefs. I want to show them all how darkness shouldn't ever be ignored. It's as equal as light, if not better.

"Yup," Ventus said, interrupting my thoughts.

"You also have a strong light." I rolled my eyes. Red looked to me and furrowed her brow.

"But there is something different about you." She said. "It's not light…"

"No way!" Ventus interrupted. "Yami's chock-full of light! No doubt about it." I was about to object, but Blue, who looked a bit uneasy, insisted that we leave immediately. We raced to the place where I yelled at Ventus to see a woman with a black cloak and her back turned to us. She oozed impure darkness. I nudged Ventus.

"I bet you my Wayfinder that that's Maleficent." I whispered to him.

"Someone has released Aurora's heart." She said and turned. "Tell me children, was it you?"

"Maleficent!" Red yelled. I do so love it when I'm right about things.

"Only 'cause you stole it in the first place!" Ventus retorted, angry now. He charged at Maleficent. She disappeared in green fire, much to his confusion. I had to admit it; she was good with darkness. If she would've used it right, we wouldn't be having any problems. Knowing that there was going to be a fight, I summoned my Keyblade.

"Keyblades…" Her voice lingered everywhere. "You must be Ventus and Yami."

"Huh? How do you know about me… and the Keyblade?"

"And HOW do you know my name?" I called out, irritated. I hate when people I don't know call my name.

"My powers ensure I'd know of the key to bringing me hearts." She told us calmly, ignoring my question. "Terra gave me a demonstration." Terra did WHAT?

"Terra?" Ventus sounded more confused than I had ever seen him. "He was here?"

"Why, yes. In fact, it was he that stole Princess Aurora's heart."

"That's a lie!"

"Yea!" I added. "He wouldn't hurt innocent people!"

"I was asked to leave you unharmed…" She started. "But it seems I have no choice!" I noticed small balls of light, colored green, blue, and red.

"We'll help you!" I heard blue call out to us. Ventus and I looked at each other. I smiled. This was going to be fun.

We charged at her from both sides, but she disappeared, causing us to run into each other.

"Ow!" I yelled. "That smarts…" I glared at the laughing witch on the other side of the room.

"Thunder!" She yelled. There I no way that I'm going to get shocked twice in my life. I was quickly airborne as I used my wind power to swiftly glide to where she was. As fast as Ventus was, I was still surprised at how fast he had gotten there. We both landed a significant blow on her before she transported to the middle of the room. The fairies immediately made a portal of light.

"Over here!" They said as Maleficent laughed.

"All who dare-"

"Yea, yea, whatever!" I interrupted as we stepped on the light. We put our Keyblades in the air and reversed whatever spell she was about to cast. It hit her and her minions, destroying them, but causing her to fall asleep.

"Ventus!" I called. "Fire and ice!" He knew exactly what I meant and nodded. We had practiced it for the month I had been there. We both used our shot locks on Maleficent and maxed them out. Ventus did his Flame Salvo while I did my Absolute Zero. We continued our fight for what seemed like forever until she teleported once more and struggled to her throne.

"There's no way Terra would hurt somebody like that!" Ventus yelled angrily. Maleficent smirked.

"You don't believe me?" She asked.

"Uh, no." I said bluntly.

"That's unfortunate, for he agreed so easily."

"He did?" He asked sadly, head held low.

"Don't listen to her Ventus!" I urged. "She's lying!"

"Yami's right! Ven, don't be fooled!" I froze. This is not happening. This is so NOT happening! I forced myself to turn in Aqua's direction as she ran over to us.

"Aqua!" Ventus called, surprised.

"Terra would never do that." She said to him. "You know that as well as I do."

He looked up and nodded. "Yea."

"Ahh…" Maleficent crowed. "The truth can be the most cruel, even among the closest of friends. After all, one never knows the secret of one's heart."

I glared at her. "True, but then again, why would we listen to a half-baked witch?

In turn, she glared at me. "Insolent brat…" She turned to the others. "But I'm sure you'll agree… Ventus…Aqua." They both looked angry at just the sight of her. Aqua let it go and turned to Ventus.

"The Master sent me." She said. Sent her for what exactly? "Ven, let's go home." That's what she's here for?

"But Terra…"

"Terra's not ready to leave yet."

Ventus thought hard until he came to a conclusion. "Sorry, Aqua. But I can't go with you."

"Ventus…" I whispered. Aqua looked confused. Poor girl.

"It's just…" He continued. "I have to find him before it's too late!" And with that, he ran away.

"Ven!"Aqua yelled, as she ran after him.

"Another weak heart. How pitiful." Maleficent laughed, causing Aqua to stop.

"Ventus's heart is NOT weak witch!" I yelled. "You can't even use darkness properly!"

"Properly?" Aqua asked me. I slapped my hands over my mouth. _Uh-oh, _I thought._ I don't think I was supposed to say that. _

"Ah, and your 'mission' child." Maleficent interjected. "To spread… what was it now? It seems to me that your friends wouldn't like that at all."

"Shut up!" I said franticly. "How do you even know about my mission!?"

"Yami," Aqua said. "What exactly ARE you here for?" Maleficent smiled.

"Would you like me to tell them?" She asked sinisterly. Judging by her character, I was certain she'd tell. I couldn't do anything but run. If Aqua would found out, there would be two people to fight instead of one.

"Yami!" Aqua called. The sound of her calling my name echoed through my head as I ran.

"Aqua," I whispered to myself. "I'll show you how pure and good darkness can be…please wait. Please don't be a light lover." I summoned my armor & rider and left the world. As soon as I was in space, I saw a world covered in sand and mountains.

"Ugh, what bad land this place has." Huh, Badlands would be a nice name for it. I landed there on a high mountain. Immediately, spots of black appeared from the ground and began to take form. They all had yellow eyes and antennae down to its back. One appeared right in my face. I didn't have time to jump back before it scratched my cheek forcefully, sending me flying and hitting the ground hard. I quickly got to my feet, not before seeing some blood drip from my cheek and unto the ground.

"You'll pay or that jerks!" I yelled as I destroyed them. However, there was a problem: whenever I defeated any, more would appear. I think that this went on for about an hour or more; I was too tired to try to find out. In fact, I was almost too tired to fight. In my fatigue, they managed to scratch my lower back, arms, legs, and stomach. I fell to one knee while they were getting ready to attack as a group now.

_Use darkness! _I heard my voice in my head. _You have to use your darkness to live! Hurry and use it, before it's too late! _I had never thought to myself like that before, but I was right. I quickly stood up.

"Darkness!" I screamed to the sky. Suddenly, I had felt something that I had never before. It was as if my whole body pulsed once as I dropped my Keyblade.

I gasped as I felt my canines turn sharper, into fangs. My nails grew sharper, and my enemies were a lot slower. They might as well not been moving. I got on all fours and destroyed them all with my claws. It was weird, I felt like I wasn't doing it at all. I felt feral… violent….

Good.

All of a sudden, something else came over me. My body ached. Kind of like a side effect. I was standing while the enemies around me multiplied. All of the pain in my body came at once as I shrieked at the top of my lungs. I couldn't fight. And the pain was too blinding. The last image I saw was them disappear in a flash of black and red. I felt myself go limp and tip over but a pair of arms caught me.

"Don't worry Yams," I heard a familiar voice say. "I got you." It was a guy's voice, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Wh-who are…?" I tried to make out a face, but all I could see was darkness. I felt it emanating around me. So painful…

"Don't talk. Don't even move. Rest." The boy lifted me into his arms. I took his advice and let my pain over come me to the point where I passed out. The last thing I heard was the boy whisper,

"So is this why the Master wanted you?"


	6. Radiant Gardens

I was running. Running without purpose. Trying to get away from something that wasn't there. But I could feel its presence all around me. It was so tainted; so impure. I turned around to make out the figure that just materialized behind me. When I turned around, I had the shock of my life. The tainted impure figure was…

It was me.

I gasped and opened my eyes to find that it was all a nightmare. My heart raced and I felt some sweat on my forehead. I sat up and noticed something about me. First off, my hair wasn't in a ponytail anymore. My left arm and right leg were bandaged. My cheek was patched up too. I lifted my shirt a little to find that my stomach and lower back and a bit above my chest were bandaged as well.

"Who did this?" I asked to myself. I looked around for anyone and found something strange. I wasn't in the Badlands anymore. There were houses of every shape and size. Nope, nothing like the Badlands.

"Where am I?" I asked to no one again. I expected no one to answer, so when I heard someone say "The Radiant Gardens" above my head, I jumped.

I looked up to see Vanitas snickering from the top of the house. He jumped down and took off his mask.

"Van!" I said happily.

"Don't try to get up." He instructed, reading my exact thoughts.

"Why not?" I asked, very well knowing the answer. When he raised his eyebrow I added lamely, "Can't I walk over to a friend that I haven't seen in so long?"

"You could," He said while rolling his eyes. "But you're too hurt." He handed me a potion. "Drink this." I did as instructed and felt better already. I had told him that he should've learned healing spells.

"Thanks Van." I told him.

"Just be glad I got there in time." He said. "This is what happens when someone who didn't finish their training tries to fight Heartless." Is that what those things are called?

"I didn't even do anything!" I argued. "Those things attacked ME for no reason."

"They'll kinda do that." I had to admit, those 'Heartless' things had a good strategy. I'm just glad to be out of there alive. I thought back to the time where I had fought them. What was wrong with my darkness? It had never been this way before. Maybe I had called it wrong. Or maybe…

"Did my darkness…" I started.

"Overpower you?" Van finished. "Yea it did."

"I had never had trouble with it before…"

"You've never used _that _much of it at one time." I hugged my knees tighter. I need to control it more. Maybe this is another reason why the Master sent me on this mission. Either way, I have to get stronger. I got up and immediately felt the pain of leaning on my right leg and some of my left. Van helped me gain my balance.

"Who bandaged me?" His eyes widened for a split second before casually looking away.

"Why do you ask?" He said.

"Just wondering." I actually was. Whoever did this did a really thorough job.

"…Me" I must have lost my hearing for a second. Did he just say _he _did it? No, no, that's impossible.

"Who did you say again?" I asked.

"I did." He said once more. I blinked twice. You have got to be kidding me. My face got hot and it was probably red. I glanced at him. His face was the slightest shade of pink. I narrowed my eyes.

"What did you see?" I asked bluntly. He smirked and backed away from me a bit.

"Nothing at all." He told me. "Not like there's anything there to see." My face felt hotter as he snickered. Before I could summon my Keyblade and attack him, he put his mask back on and jumped back up on a building.

"Where do you think you're going?" I yelled.

"I need to head back." He said as I dismissed my Keyblade.

"So soon?" I whined glumly.

"I'll see you again." He crossed his arms in a sly way. "Or are you so weak that you need me all the time?" I stamped my foot.

"No way!" I yelled again as he left, hearing him laugh.

"Jerk…" I mumbled to myself. When I took a step, I noticed something beside me. It was three of my favorite kind rice balls wrapped in plastic and a note. When I read the note, I couldn't help but smile.

"Don't choke- Vanitas." I rolled my eyes and unwrapped the first one and putting the other two in one of my loose side pockets so they wouldn't be crushed. When I threw the bandages away, I walked through the town, feeling something that I felt had been missing from my life. The world had a warm aura that had never been shown to me in my world. It kind of made me envious.

"Argh! I'm so hungry I could die..." My thoughts were interrupted as I looked up to see two boys walking in my direction. One of the boys had red spiked hair. The other one had blue hair.

"Oh calm down you crybaby." The blue-haired one said. "You shouldn't have wasted your money on all that ice cream you bought yesterday."

"But it was SO good!" Redhead whined rather loudly. His stomach growled loudly. "I need food. Just the tiniest bit."

"Quit complaining." Blue told him. Ironically, his stomach started to growl quietly as well.

"Well, well, well," Red said. "It looks like someone's hungry too." He smirked.

Blue rolled his eyes. "But I'm not complaining about it, unlike you." I giggled. The redhead must have heard me because he looked my way, surprised.

"Oh!" I said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to eavesdrop."

"Loudmouth Lea." Blue mumbled. He turned to me. "It's alright. Lea here's too loud for his own good."

"Here you go again Isa, always trying to embarrass me in front a cute girl." This dude is real blunt with things, isn't he?

"Don't laugh at him." Isa told me. "It'll get to his already swelled head." I smiled. They must have been best friends. They acted like brothers. I could tell that this fight was going to last forever, but Lea's stomach growled even louder this time.

"Death by starvation!" He moaned.

"Drama queen…" Isa said as he rolled his eyes once more. I looked in my pocket to see my two spare rice balls. _I'm not hungry anymore, _I thought_. Better give this to people in need._ I took them out of my pocket and held them out to the boys.

"Here" I said. Isa's eyes slightly widened while Lea looked at them as if he had never seen food before in his life.

"You don't have to…" Isa began.

"It's okay." I told them. "I already had one so I'm fine." They took it and thanked me.

"She's a saint I tell you." Lea said to Isa. "Thank you so much! With this, I can live."

"You're over exaggerating again." He took something out of his pocket. "Thank you again. Here's for your troubles." He handed me two lifetime passes to a place called Disney Town.

"Be sure to take a friend." Lea added. I took them gratefully.

"Thank you. And I know exactly who I'm going to take." The thought of Van immediately formed in my head.

"Lucky guy to make you blush like that," Lea said.

"Oh…" I stammered. "I didn't even realize-" My words were cut short by the sound of something falling. The three of us looked up to a bomb from above being dropped.

"Look out!" I yelled as I tackled us all out of the way. The force of the explosion made us fly back a bit more than expected. Lea and Isa were behind me. I quickly got up.

"You okay!?" I heard Lea yell and footsteps.

"Stay back!" I called to them. I found out that it was a giant Unversed floating in the air. It continued to drop bombs all over the place. I jumped into the air and split all of them in half before they hit the ground. When I turned back to Lea and Isa, their mouths were hanging wide open. Lea had two Frisbees in his hands, ready for a battle. But I doubt he could hold his own against an Unversed. Especially one of this size.

"Get out of here!" I could tell they were about to object, but seeing as I could hold my own against it, they reluctantly retreated. I turned back to the bomb Unversed.

"Okay." I said as I took my stance. "You've got my attention." It shook violently and opened up its hatch to drop a bomb bigger than the rest.

"Blizzaga!" I yelled, freezing the bomb and rendering it useless. What really threw me off was that it flew out to the opposite of the boys' direction. _You've got to be kidding me! _I thought. Well, I wasn't letting that thing get away. I raced to catch up with it on top of some houses until I heard a scream. I looked down to see a little girl running from some Unversed. When I looked back up, the Unversed that I was chasing had disappeared.

"You have got to be kidding me…" I groaned as I jumped down to save the girl who then tripped and fell down. I slashed away the Unversed at her feet and continued with the rest. After they were all defeated, I turned around to face the girl and kneeled to meet her height.

"You ok?" I asked the girl who was still on the floor, looking at me surprised. She quickly nodded, stood up, and straightened her dress. I slightly raised an eyebrow at the girl. She wore a black and white dress with a black shoe and a white shoe. To top it off, the girl wore a half-black half-white ribbon in her hair, which was jet-black. Her skin was mocha, like mine, but she had a black diamond mark on her left cheek.

"Get away from here." I told her. "It's not safe. There's an even bigger one that drops bombs all over the place on the loose." The girl looked surprised and she pointed somewhere overhead. I turned my head and saw nothing.

"I think it went that way." She said. My eyes widened.

"You saw it?" I asked urgently. "And it headed there?!" She nodded. I broke into a sprint but not before thanking the girl. I followed the Unversed to see where it was going. It looked like it was headed to what looked like a battlefield, so I used wind magic to pick up some speed and beat it to there. I was a good couple of yards before my blood ran cold because of what I saw.

Terra. Terra with Aqua and Ventus running to him. If Van was right, then it would be best for me to keep my distance if they were all together. But Aqua and Terra looked very surprised to see him.

"Ven!" They yelled.

"Terra! Aqua!" He called back. The sound of bombs dropping got closer and closer. I didn't even have the chance to look up before the wind from an explosion sent me flying and landing on my butt before the three of them.

"OW!" I yelled, not yet realizing that I was right in front of them.

"Yami?" The three said. So much for keeping my distance. A second later, they all were in their battle stances. I looked to see three other giant Unversed fusing together with the one I was chasing. I quickly got into my battle stance.

The Unversed shot fireball bombs into the sky, which rained down on us. Aqua dodged gracefully as she and Terra struck a hard blow to it. I froze one of the arms while Ventus finished it off. Now for the rest of the parts. It went to the center and shot a huge beam all around the battle field in circles. Aqua and Ventus got close enough to destroy one of the legs. The body and last leg created another beam that was even harder to dodge than the first. I used firaga to burn the last leg while Terra used brute force. Now for the body, which started to shoot out blue beams. When it paused for another move, we all came in.

"Terra!" Aqua called out.

"Ven! Now!" Terra instructed.

"C'mon Yami!" Ven yelled to me.

"Ok! Let's go!" I said. We all jumped. Aqua and I slashed it first while Terra and Ventus hit it diagonally. We turned back around to see if it was about to attack again. It fell at my feet and started to fizzle out. Soon, it disappeared completely. The all ran up to me, considering that I was in the center.

"Got 'im." Terra said, clearly satisfied.

"We make a good team." Aqua praised.

"Yea." I cheered.

"Sure do" Ventus said. He suddenly looked like he remembered something. "Oh yeah! I got you these tickets." He took out three lifetime passes to Disney Town.

"For what?" Terra asked. I took my two out.

"You have them two Yami." Aqua realized.

"Lifetime passes to Disney Town." He said. His face suddenly got a bit serious. "He said to- He said to take two grownups." Aqua and Terra looked surprised.

"You mean us?" She asked. She looked to Terra, and they both started laughing.

"Listen to me Ven…" She started. "We need to get you home-"

"It's okay Aqua." He announced, rather pleased about something. "Trust me, that guy in the mask is history. He'll never bad-mouth Terra again." Wait, wait, wait. Hold on a sec. guy in a mask? He doesn't mean…no there are millions of guys in masks out there… I hope.

Terra's eyes widened and he grabbed Ventus's shoulder. "You saw the boy in the mask?" He rather demanded an answer.

"Y-yes?" Ventus answered, not sure of what he did wrong. Terra glared into space.

"Vanitas..." He said. I raised an eyebrow.

"Well," I stated as a matter-of-factly, "That can't be true, because the Vanitas I know would never bad-mouth anyone."

"You know him?!" They both yelled.

"Yea. I do. And I don't appreciate you two talking about my friend like that."

"Your friend?!" Terra yelled. He looked at me as if I were crazy.

"Listen, Yami." Ventus said. "I don't think you know him well enough. He tried…to destroy me."

"What!?" Aqua yelled. Well, this is news to her. I rolled my eyes. That was a horrible lie.

"Now you're trying to lie? What the heck did he ever do to you?"

"I told you! He tried to destroy me!"

"And I told you! You're a liar!" I yelled. "I know Van. He would never try to hurt anyone unless in training or if he had to."

"Van…is Vanitas…" Terra said, putting two and two together. I smirked.

"Yep."

"But that doesn't make any sense… he's an abomination of darkness…"

"What!?" I took a step toward Terra, summoning my Keyblade. "Don't you ever talk about my friend like that ever again!"

In return, he summoned his Keyblade as well. Aqua and Ventus gasped.

"Yami, just listen for a second!" He said. "I don't want to fight you. The Master said-"

"I couldn't care less what your Master or any Master said about him! And if he's an abomination of darkness, then you're an abomination of light!"

"Abomination of light?" Ventus interjected. "But there's no such thing."

I dismissed my Keyblade. "Then the same for darkness. You can be extremely powerful if you use darkness properly."

"You said something about that before Yami." Aqua said. "I think it's sweet that you're trying to give darkness a chance too, but it can't be helped. It's its nature to try to swallow all light and-"

"Exactly what I'd expect some light loving goodie-goodies to say."

"Light loving?" Terra said.

"Goodie-goodies?" Ventus finished. Aqua looked concerned for my well-being. She stepped forward and gently placed her hand on my shoulder.

"Yami." She said calmly. "Someone's putting lies in your head. Darkness can never be tamed."

"That's right!" Ventus told me. I glared at him.

"I couldn't care less about what you three have to say." I said, keeping my voice low. "You're all one-sided about one thing or another and you lie. You're no friends of mine." When I looked at Aqua, she looked completely devastated. Ventus and Terra looked at me in disbelief. I sprinted away.

"Yami!" The three of them called. I spun around.

"Just don't!" I yelled. "I'll show you than darkness CAN be tamed and that you're lying about Van!" and with that, I ran away again.

_I can't believe those three! _I thought as I slowed to a walk when I was far away from them. _ I bet Ventus's never even met Van before. _I turned the corner to almost crash into Vanitas.

"Calm down there." He said calmly. "What's that in your hand?" I looked at my hand to realize that in my fit of anger, I had forgotten to put my Disney Town pass back in my pocket. I handed one to him.

"I take it you're angry?" I gave him an 'oh really?' look.

"Those three hypocrites are bad-mouthing you and darkness!"

"Those as in…"

"Terra, Aqua, and Ventus. They said you bad-mouthed Terra and tried to destroy Ventus. What do they even have against you?"

He didn't answer early and his voice didn't sound like he was telling a lie. But when he said, "I have no idea." My heart skipped a beat.

"Yes you do." I said without realizing it. He answered about a second too late. His voice wasn't hesitant, but his time was, as if he were trying to decide to tell the truth or not.

"You know why… don't you?" I asked, my voice quieter than usual.

"How would you know that I was lying?" He asked, the tiniest bit defensive.

"Because you didn't answer my second question and you hesitated." He wouldn't lie unless he really needed to, which was never. He never lies to me.

"Did you… were they telling the truth?" I couldn't see his expression with his mask on, but his silence was more than enough. I backed away but he grabbed my wrist.

"Hold on a sec-"

"You really did." I said in disbelief. "They were telling the truth about everything and you lied." He took off his mask and I looked at him straight in the eyes. "Why?" There was more silence as he refused to catch my gaze.

"I…can't tell you."

"You lied…" I whispered, my voice barely audible. I don't think it was even that serious, but tears welled up in my eyes. I guess it was because I had known and trusted him for so long… what happened? I just felt so betrayed that it hurt a lot more than I thought. He placed his free hand on my cheek and finally caught my gaze. He looked slightly confused.

"Why are you crying?" I looked away angrily. He's so hard-headed!

"Who the hell says I'm crying?" I said harshly, still not looking at his face. I can't trust him anymore, and I really can't show weakness around him. Before my tears could escape, I quickly turned to walk away- I've been doing that a lot lately- but I had forgotten that he had my wrist.

"You idiot!" I yelled. What I didn't expect was for him to pull me back extremely close to him and kiss me. It was as if my whole body was frozen and I couldn't move at all. The weird part was that I wasn't trying to struggle. I kissed him back as I slowly closed my eyes.

_What are you doing!? _I realized. I tore my arm from his grasp and ran away, not looking back. When I was far enough away from him, I jumped on the top of a random building. I don't think he followed, so I sat down with my knees hugging my chest and my head buried in my arms.

"What's happening?" I asked myself. The light-lovers were right and my closest friend lied and tried to kill one of them? He's not the Vanitas that I knew years ago. I had thought that we were friends, but now what?

"Are you alright?" My thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice. I looked up to see that same little girl that I had rescued earlier, but this time, there was a boy with her. He looked about a year older than her, with green hair, purple eyes arms folded, and a serious expression on his face. Well, as serious as an adorable five-year old could get. He had an orange hoodie with black shorts and shoes.

"You're that girl from before." I said. She nodded and sat beside me.

"I never thanked you for saving me." She said smiling. "Thank you very much."

"It was no big deal."

"Maybe not for you, but it was for us." The boy said. "She can't defend herself very well, so who knows what would've happened?"

"Hey!" The girl yelled. "I can protect myself!"

"Not from where I stood." I said smiling.

"No fair! You two are ganging up on me." The boy cracked a smile while I laughed. The little girl noticed and smiled again.

"What's your name?" She asked.

"Yami." I told her.

"Well, I'm Migaru and this is my friend Tsubasa." She gestured to the boy, who looked down to his shoes. "And I'm glad I could make you feel better." I gave her a warm smile and ruffled her head.

"You know, you really did. Thanks Migaru."

"It was no big deal." There was something about this girl, something that no one in any of those worlds had ever had. She had pure darkness. This wasn't the kind of darkness that I had seen before. This one wasn't corrupt at all. It was friendly and inviting, like light.

"Ok then Migaru." I said, holding out my hand. "Let's be friends from now on."

"Sure!" She chimed and took my hand. As soon as they touched, an extremely bright light shone. It gave me a weird feeling- well, other than completely surprised. When it faded, I blinked twice.

"What just happened?" Tsubasa asked. I noticed that he had taken a couple of steps toward us

"I don't know…but it sure did make me feel weird." Migaru said, looking a bit dazed.

"You too?" That was weird. But it made me think. Aqua, Terra, and Ventus really _were _wrong. There is such a thing as pure darkness. I stood up.

"Where are you going?" They both asked.

"I need to finish what I started."I said. "I'm on a mission to find people like…like you Migaru. I want to find out how many there actually are." I took a couple of steps away from them.

"Wait!" Migaru called. "Will you come back to tell me?" I thought about this for a second. I couldn't see any harm in that.

"No problem." I said. But Migaru didn't look convinced. I sighed and summoned my Keyblade. Tsubasa jumped, but Migaru looked at it in amazement.

"Let's make a deal." I turned the handle side to her.

"In your hand, take this key." I told her. "So long as you have the makings, even the simple act of taking…its wielder you shall one day be. You shall never fear, as long as its presence is always near." She slowly put her hand on it.

"Now what?" She asked me.

"When you can get something that looks kind of like mine, we'll find each other. Let's hope that you get a lot stronger then."

"Promise?"

"Promise." I turned to Tsubasa and put my finger to his forehead. A twinkle of light appeared. Something that I had learned from Aqua.

"What did you do?" He asked.

"I cast a spell on you. You'll need to be strong too. This will just help you protect the ones you love." I glanced at Migaru and giggled. He may not know it yet, but it's as clear as day and night to me. I just wonder how everything will unfold. I pressed the button on my shoulder and summoned my armor.

"Remember!" Migaru said as I hopped on to my board. "I'll see you again! I promise I'll get stronger."

"Remember to learn the basics first." I called back. "Choose what you find the most comfortable." She nodded in excitement. I summoned a portal and went off.

_I now know what my next step is, _I thought as I went through into space. _I'll use both light AND darkness to the best of my ability. I'll prove no matter what that both can be tamed. Just you guys wait. But what about Vanitas?_


	7. Olympus Coliseum

Chained Fighter here! Sorry for the long wait (school will be the death of me but we all want an education)! For this chapter, I hope I don't make Hercules OOC (I'm just thinking of how he would be when- ahem…too much info- read the story!) And also, this chapter will be with another Kingdom Hearts fan fiction writer. He's a friend named infinitestories and he has a character named Taios! Enjoy! And I own nothing but Yami!

The next world I landed in was as bright as Cinderella's. I got off my board and onto the roofs of the town, until I lost my footing and fell off.

"Whoa!" I yelled. Luckily, someone caught me. I looked up to see a man with blue skin and fiery hair to match.

"Now look what we have here," He smirked. "I've stumbled across a little lost raven." A raven? What's with this guy? He put me down.

"Thank you." I said quickly and walked away.

"Hey, hold on!" I heard him call. "What's the rush?" _Oh no, _I thought. _A stalker…I haven't even been on this world for a good hour yet! _I kept walking.

"I see you've got darkness within you, just waiting to come out." I stopped for a moment and turned around.

"You can…sense that?" He grinned.

"Not just that. You have lotsa darkness in you." He frowned. "And just the tiniest bit of light." Great…I _thought_ I would have more darkness than light in me.

"Now what do I do…" I mumbled

"Don't you worry kiddo!" The man assured. "I can make that little light disappear before you know it."

"No way!" I yelled. "I need to tame both light and darkness. Make them perfectly equal." I started to walk away again.

"That could work too." He said a bit hastily. "But see, that darkness of yours is territorial." I raised an eyebrow.

"Territorial." Does he think I would even buy that?

"Of course. If you work with light, it'll build up to overpower the darkness, driving it out. Then what will you be? A brainwashed, darkness hating little dove, that's what."

"So what do you suppose I do first?" I asked, still not quite believing him.

"Simple." He smiled. "Train your darkness with me first, and then go back to your little light."

"I have two questions for you. One, why do you know these things?"

"I'm Hades! The Lord of the dead has to know things like this." Lord of the dead? Well, he certainly dressed the part.

"And two, how stupid do you really think I am?" I said bluntly. "Why on Earth would I trust someone like you?"

"Fine, fine, I see how it is." He looked like he had an idea. "Just join the Games! That'll teach ya how to control both light and darkness."

"The Games? Let me guess, your own little contest?"

"Close, but no." He said. "A contest, but not owned by yours truly. There, you can learn all about what it takes to handle light and darkness." If the place wasn't his, then I wouldn't have to expect any funny business. Still, I would definitely have to keep my guard up. He pointed me to where they held the Games. There I signed up.

"You're in luck kid." A man name Phil told me. "Now there's just one more spot."

"Good. Just in time." I said as I started to walk out. A boy with brown hair passed me as I thought about I whom I would be fighting.

"Hmph, the Lord of the dead isn't someone you should make a deal with, kid." He said. I stopped cold and turned around.

"What did you just-" I started to ask, but he was already gone. I ran back into the vestibule to see no one but Phil there.

"Did you just see a boy with brown hair?" I asked him. He nodded.

"Yep, he just took the last spot."

"Could you tell me where he went?"

"No idea. When I turned around, 'poof'! He was gone." He shook his head. I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Hades.

"Don't even worry about that kid!" He said reassuringly. "Right now, you've got a match to win. It's your turn."

I shrugged his hand off. "Let's get one thing clear." I began. "I don't trust you. Nor will I ever trust you. You are not my teacher, therefore, you don't tell me what to do." I walked over to the arena to find many Unversed prepared to fight. I smiled. I did need to blow some steam since the last world.

"Bring it on!" I yelled as I began to slash away at the Unversed. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Hades smiling. That's when I noticed it; my darkness was emanating from my body. I quickly expelled it, much to his dislike.

_What's up with my darkness? _I thought to myself. _I have to keep that under control. _After that, I had continued passing all of my rounds so I took the time to relax. But I couldn't shake the feeling of what that boy said.

_The Lord of the dead isn't someone you should make a deal with. _I know I shouldn't trust that flame haired creepo, but how does he know? He didn't look like he was from this world.

"Hey kid! You're up!" I heard Phil call me. When I went outside, I noticed an orange haired boy who looked my age. He wore a strange outfit and stood by Phil. The boy took one look at me and started to panic.

"P-Phil!" He stammered. "I can't fight her!"

"And why not?" Phil demanded.

"Because that's a girl!" I raised an eyebrow. Oh, you have got to be kidding me.

"Listen Herc," Phil instructed. "There are all sorts of fighters in this world, and they come in all shapes and sizes. Think of this as… a test run for the real thing."

"But aren't I supposed to _save _damsels in distress?" No he did not.

"Hey!" I interrupted. "If I were a damsel, I wouldn't be entering this fight!" I stepped into the ring.

"Listen kid," I heard Phil whisper to the boy. "I got three words for ya: she ain't no pushover!" Herc took a deep breath and stepped into the ring. It then sealed with light.

"Uh…hi there." The boy sputtered. "I'm Hercules." I smirked. Now he wants to acknowledge my existence?

"Hi there!" I said cheerfully. "I'm the damsel named Yami!"

"Start!" Phil yelled. Hercules hesitated before slowly inching over. I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes.

"Really?" I asked. He then ran, a bit slower still, and got a face full of fireball.

"Jeez!" He yelled, getting up.

"If you don't get serious, I _will _hurt you." I informed.

"Ow…. Ok, get serious. Right." He said to himself. "She's just another guy, that's all."

"Hey, I never said all that!" Either way, he looked ready to fight.

"That's the spirit Herc!" I heard Phil cheer. Finally, now we can get serious.

"Here I come!" He yelled, charging at me I quickly jumped over him and tried to strike from behind. He quickly dodged and punched the ground near me. When he lifted his hand up, I noticed that there was a crater there.

"Whoa." I paled. One him from him and I could be down for the count. I have to watch out for that. I used my wind power to dodge all of his punches.

"Reflect!" I called. A clear barrier surrounded me when he attacked again. It shined and deflected the blow straight to him, which sent him flying. I walked up to him and put my Keyblade to his face.

"You lose." I said smiling. I then helped him up. He laughed and scratched the back of his head playfully.

"I guess Phil was right when he said you weren't a pushover." He said.

"Trust me, I've been through a lot of training to get this far, and I'm still not strong enough." I said as we walked back. "There are a few people I want to catch up to." I thought of how I was already Ventus's equal, but still had to catch up to Aqua, Terra, and Vanitas. But who knows where they could be…

Hercules looked to the arena. "The next match is starting. Wanna go see?"

"Sure." We walked back to the arena to see a boy with black hair against…

"Hey!" I yelled at his opponent. "You're that guy from before! What did you mean by that earlier!?"

He didn't even turn around. "So, you're Zack huh?" He said and smiled. "Maybe after this match I can buy ya a drink."

"Hey! Answer me punk!" I was going to charge at him, but Hercules held me back.

"Yami wait!" He pleaded. "We can't interfere with a match!" But then the boy summoned a Keyblade. I stopped struggling completely. I almost stopped breathing.

"What…" I began. "Is he doing with a Keyblade…?" I ran to a vacant seat to watch the rest of the match. He was very skilled with a Keyblade; he ended the match with just a few hits.

"Hey, that kinda looks like your weapon." Hercules told me.

"Yea." I said back, not really listening. I was too busy thinking. _Where did he get a Keyblade? Furthermore, where did he learn how to use one? He was never trained by Master Xehanort or Eraqus. Maybe he was trained by that one guy. What was his name again? Dis Ney? No, no, it was Yen Sid. That has to be it, I can't think of anymore masters out there. _My thoughts were interrupted by the boy turning my way. He dismissed his Keyblade.

"I'll answer after I fight you…kid." He smiled. Keyblade apprentice or not, who does this guy think he is!?

"Who the heck are you calling kid? We're like, a month apart!"

"Not in my description we're not." He then laughed and started to walk back inside. The nerve of this guy! What a weirdo.

"Just tell me what you meant!"

"Not until the last match."

"Hey, don't sweat it Yami." Hercules assured. "After you fight him, I'm sure you'll get your answers."

"Fine then." I grumbled. "So be it." As I got ready for my match, Phil and Hercules talked to me.

"Now," Phil said. "You may be strong, but this guy ain't nothin' to sneeze at."

"I've seen just how good this guy is." I claimed. "I will NOT underestimate him." I can't afford to anyway. Anyone who can use a Keyblade as well as he does isn't someone you just take lightly. I walked out into the ring to see that he was already there. It sealed behind me.

"Ready for this?" He asked calmly. "I won't force you to fight." I raised an eyebrow.

"Please! Let's just hope you can keep up." I summoned a dark aura and immediately noticed something wrong. "What's going on? My darkness doesn't feel right. Like it's impure."

"Didn't I warn you before? Dark Drive!" He summoned darkness and blazed across the arena at blinding speeds. He would've almost hit me if I didn't duck.

"Jeez!" I yelled. "He had never done this before!" He finished his attack.

"That's because you've never seen the full extent of my power."

"Come on Yami." I told myself. "This may not be the best, but you've got to pull it together." He started to attack, but I held my ground.

"Hmph. Not bad kid you're actually learning how to defend yourself." I was then struck by a hard blow to the chin that sent me flying a couple of feet.

"Ow…" I groaned. "That smarts…" I slowly got up, but not entirely. _Use it! _I heard the voice in my head say. _You have to win to get answers. Use the darkness that you had used before! Remember how good it felt? You have to show this boy who's the most powerful of you two!_

"Come on!" The boy called. "Get up! You want to at least try to win this, don't you?"_ See? That jerk's provoking you! Use it! _I know I'll regret this later.

"Just remember." I began. "You asked for it." The arrogant punk smirked at me.

"Finally! I thought you were holding back for a second. Now the real fight begins." I hesitated for a second.

"D-darkness." I called. My body pulsed once and my hand immediately flew to my mouth as I felt fangs. My nails grew shaper once more as I lowered my hand from my mouth and dropped my Keyblade.

"Hmph." I heard the boy say. "Unleashing your darkness, are you? No matter." I charged at him with all I had. I had assumed he would become slower, but he was the exact same speed. He charged up with light and darkness. I started to feel the side effect.

_This has to end quickly. _I thought. But no matter how much I attacked, he kept dodging.

"Holy Smite!" He hit me with a powerful light attack and before I knew it, I was back to normal. I fell to the ground as he walked up to me.

"Not bad kid." He said. "You put up a good fight" Even though he healed me, I was still exhausted.

."B-but…" I stammered. "The match isn't-"

"You were defeated in a fair fight." He interrupted, pulling me to my feet. I paused for a moment.

"Fine." I said finally. "Just tell me what you meant." Just then, Hades appeared in a puff of smoke. The boy glared at him.

"Hmph." He said. "Hello Hades." Ah, so they know each other.

"Why am I not surprised?" I muttered to myself. The boy turned to me.

"Kid, run away from here. He'll trick you like the rest." My eyes widened. The rest…. I knew it.

"You know, I was hoping that your use for darkness but help me out." Hades said. "But he showed up and you got cold feet! If that's not cowardly, then I don't know what is."

"Coward!?" I yelled, summoning my Keyblade. Is this guy serious? "Tricking girls isn't what I'd call a heroic act!" The boy stepped in front of me to talk to Hades.

"Why don't you crawl back into your little whole in the underworld where you belong?" He asked.

"Well, I still get to, uh, crush you. The rules say you face me next! But why don't you join the winning team?"

"How about I dump you in the next freezing icicle glacier for eternity then chop you into bite-sized pieces!?" Wow, dude has some problems. Hades smirked.

"Well that was rude. 'No thank you your godliness' would have sufficed. But I've got a whole lotta darkness with your name on it!" He laughed and disappeared. The boy turned to me.

"See? What I tell ya? Tricked you like the rest of you humans." He was right, but he didn't have to rub it in.

"Thanks, but now what?" I asked. "You're fighting him next and I'm out of the round."

"Combatants can call for back up you know." I blinked twice. Phil can never clearly explain the rules. He smiled. "Name's Taios by the way."

I smiled back. "I'm Yami. We'll beat him together. But don't get me wrong! I wasn't with Hades to train with only darkness. I wanted to learn how to use light as well."

"Then what's stopping you?" He asked. "When I want to use something, I use it." I raised an eyebrow.

"It's not that easy for everyone, you know." I told him. "I have a problem when using light. It just doesn't agree with me. This is why I need to get used to it more." He put a hand on my shoulder.

"In time you will, but first, I want to give you a jump start on your light. It'll sting a little though." I stepped back. After Hades, I'm not so keen on trusting anyone in this world fully, no matter how nice they are. Keyblade wielder or not, I couldn't care less. He looked away; a sincere look or sadness on his face. Why does this always happen to me!?

"Fine. If we're going to fight together, then I need to trust you." He slowly smiled.

"Alright." A ball of light formed in his hands. It looked as if it were being attracted to me and went inside my body.

"Ow." I muttered and found myself glowing. "What's happening?" I swear if this guy is messing with me, he's getting a Keyblade to the chest.

"Your body's reacting to the light I gave you." He said. "Soon, your heart and body will be completely in sync." So this is what light feels like? Darkness had never felt this warm. Well, except for that girl Migaru. I turned to Taios.

"Thanks. Now we can teach that overgrown match a lesson." He laughed.

"Now you're talking." We walked back to the lobby and waited out for the next round. About 20 minutes later, we went back out and the air grew colder. I noticed Hercules, Phil and Zack watching from the stands.

"Where is he?" I asked. I looked up and saw rocks fall from the sky and Hades appeared in a puff of smoke with a giant rock monster.

"The Rock Titan!" Hercules yelled. Hades sneered.

"I never said one on one." He said. Taios smirked and looked up at the Rock Titan.

"You know what they say. The bigger they are…" He summoned a Keyblade.

"The harder they fall!" I finished, summoning my Keyblade. "It's actually perfect that you brought that thing with you. I thought we would just have to smack you around all day." Taios stepped forward.

"Time to bust that boulder to bits!" He raised his Keyblade in the air. "Twilight Storm!" Small pillars of light and darkness surrounded the titan as he looked to me. I nodded.

"Here we go!" I used my wind power to jump directly over the titan. In the corner of my eye, I noticed Hades with a huge fireball.

"We can't have that, now can we?" He yelled as he threw the ball in my direction. I thought fast as I swung my Keyblade at the fireball to the titan's direction. It glowed white as it hit the titan and started to melt.

"Diamond Berg!" Taios yelled, finishing Hades off. He summoned an iceberg which engulfed him. He continued with a couple of sharp slashes.

"Hmph, this rock head is nothing!" Hades yelled, backing away. "Stay tuned." He then disappeared.

"Let's hope he brings a challenge next time." I said. I noticed that Hercules and Phil were gone. Taios looked to me.

"You haven't seen the Keyblade trio have ya?" He asked. "Cause by this timeline, the earth head should be here." Keyblade trio? He couldn't mean them… could he? Either way, I took a chance.

"I may have seen them in the last world I was in." And that went so very well…. "I have no idea where they could be now." Taios sighed.

"Well, if you do see them, Beware of Terra, He's a bit nutty in the head."

"Aren't all light-lovers?" I laughed, assuming that that was what he meant.

"Don't trust Ven either. His darkness is on the loose killing innocent lives." His darkness?

"What do you mean by that?" I asked. He looked like that was something he shouldn't have said.

"Oh wow, look at the time!" He said frantically. "I really ought to go buy Zack that drink I owe him, bye!" He ran away before I could say more.

"Finally, he's gone." A voice said behind me. I quickly turned around to see Taios again.

"Whoa!" I yelped. "Didn't you just run away from here!?"

"I did. It's called time travel."

"Time travel?" Was this guy for real? I've heard of the stop spell, but not time travel. "How could manage to-" Suddenly, there was a huge crash that came from the arena with the sky growing dark.

"That's our cue." He said running over to the arena. I followed behind, feeling a huge amount of impure darkness. When we arrived, I could barely see Hades with the wind furiously blowing my hair into my eyes. I looked up to see a Tornado creature as big as the Rock Titan.

"So you've finally arrived!" Hades yelled over the wind. "Now we can start our match!"

"Well," I said to Taios. "He's got my attention."

"This time, we'll do even more damage!" He summoned his Keyblade and charged at the tornado, reversing it as it tried to attack. I guess he wasn't the only one who used wind power their advantage. I sprinted toward Hades with my Keyblade ready.

"Your mine!" I yelled as he summoned pillars of fire. I used my wind power to dodge most of them, getting closer and closer until landing an ice spell on him. He tried to hurl numerous fireballs at me, but I continued to dodge and land more ice spells until he backed up. From the corner of my eye, I had seen that Taios had defeated the tornado.

"You've lost Hades." He said. "No matter what you throw at us, you still lose. Why don't you make like a tree and leaf?" Even though he was fire based, I still laughed. Hades, looking angrier by the minute, backed away even more, ready to attack again.

"Who's the coward now?" I asked and looked to Taios. He nodded.

"Orobos strike!" He called as he vanished, attacking Hades with light and darkness. Hades fell to one knee.

"Yea, yea, you've won this round." He coughed. "But, you should know that this isn't the end." He disappeared into smoke.

"He's finally gone." I sighed. Note to self: never talk to any blue creeps in any world you go to.

"Well," Taios said, interrupting my thoughts. "I'm off. See you in the future." It was as if the air shifted as he disappeared . I blinked twice.

"W-where did….." I stammered.

"Yami!" I heard Hercules's voice and turned around to see him and Phil running toward me from the lobby.

"Kid, you and that boy were amazing!" Phil praised.

"Where did he go anyway?" Hercules asked, looking around. I sighed, exasperated.

"I have no idea." I said, shrugging my shoulders. "But my master had never told me about a time-traveling Keyblade wielder. Master Yen Sid must have his hands full with people like that." Master Xehanort! I had forgotten all about him! I have to tell him that Vanitas abusing darkness, or who knows what he'll do…. I raised my head up high. _I have to do what's right, for the sake of the people in this world and the others._ I summoned my rider and made a portal for the next world.

"Where to now?" Hercules asked.

"I'm setting thing straight with some people." I replied. "Oh, and Hercules? Try not to let gender affect you. It could get you killed in the long run." He smiled.

"Got it." He said. "How can I after meeting you?" through my helmet, I smiled back.

"See you guys!" I called. And with that, I was off. I'm sorry Van, but I have to tell the master what you're doing. I'm sure the master will set you straight. What's the worst that could happen?


End file.
